Since the start of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russians have begun illegally obtaining Romanian passports en masse. They are using corruption schemes and forged documents to circumvent Western sanctions and legalize themselves in the European Union.
Le Mondo writes about this.
In Romania, since 1991, there has been a legal way for foreigners to obtain Romanian citizenship without having to reside in the country: "recovery" of citizenship, when a person can prove that they have a grandmother or great-grandfather who was born or lived in the territory of the former Kingdom of Romania between 1918 and 1940.
These territories include, in particular, modern-day Moldova and regions located in Ukraine (the territory around the city of Chernivtsi and part of the Odesa region).
This is the legislation that the Russians are using. Since many archives were destroyed during World War II, the attackers are inventing relatives in the right territories. According to police representatives and sources in the judicial system, the Russians have also used the personal data of Ukrainian soldiers who died on the front to obtain passports.
The center of one such scheme was the village of Vyrfu-Campului, near the border with Ukraine. Its population doubled in ten years, from 3,420 residents in 2011 to over 7 000 in 2021. In November 2024, law enforcement officers uncovered a network that registered almost 10 000 citizens of Moldova, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation there.
A total of 6 658 Russian citizens applied to “restore” their citizenship in 2023 and 4 574 in 2024. For comparison: the total number of applications between 2012 and February 2022 was 5 262.
Meanwhile, the number of applications from Belarusian citizens increased from 95 in 2020 to 605 in 2024. In total, Romanian authorities have identified approximately 2,000 suspected cases of fraud since 2022.
This scheme has been in the works for many years and is actively promoted on social media. Agencies promise a prosperous life in the EU thanks to a Romanian passport, which they can help you obtain for €4 000–7 000, with special discounts during the Christmas period. One such agency was advertised in 2023 by Russian journalist and blogger Ksenia Sobchak.
Due to numerous cases of fraud in Romania, the requirements for obtaining citizenship under this program have been tightened — now you must speak Romanian.
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